Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 13th October, 2019)

A depressing photo....whats behind the awful gates...the Crown Jewels ??

Helen a lot of Wigans depressing history as gone under and around that bridge

Agreed, Helen. that's depressing and has nothing interesting about it. Earlier in the year a friend of mine sent in a beautiful photo of the Fingerpost at Aspull in the sunset. I know it was a stunning photo because he sent me a copy. Was it shown on photo-a-day?....No.

Depressing to some people but no doubt interesting to others.Mick takes photos around Wigan just like it is.

The Malt Works and Potter's Herbal Supplies was in the old Haigh Coal & Iron Foundry buildings behind those gates, it was set on fire a few weeks ago by vandals it is thought, I'm sure it was reported that part of the buildings had collapsed.

They were ancient buildings and part of the railway lines that ran to Red Rock station for goods to be taken in and out could still be seen.

Fred Dibnah did work on the chimney and Lancashire boiler there, and also acquired, for his museum, the old steam driven engine that powered the malt milling machinery.

It has always been told that the Laxey Wheel was cast here, others say it was cast in parts by a few foundries across the country, Wigan included, and assembled in situ on the Isle of Man.

There's an interesting titbit over on Stuff about the Market Arcade/Legs of Man: http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff/contrib1.php?opt=contrib&rr=b

Also here on Local Life website archive: Laxey Wheel Made in Wigan.https://issuu.com/local_life/docs/wigannorth0614

So it may well look grim, but it has an interesting history.

Irene just think how many miserable face owd fashioned women have walked under that bridge to work

Yawn !!!

Now that the weather is becoming more dismal as the months go on we,need something cheerful to brighten the days. I daresay there would have been some fresh faced beauties passed under the bridge as well as some good looking, men in their prime on their way to work. Human nature being what it is ........

I hope you don't mean ME, Mick, in the miserable faced owd women! Yes, they played a part in our history, Mick, as did the bridge they walked under, but I sometimes feel that the photos submitted are not always fairly distributed. If your own photos are shown regularly, that is not your fault.... the choice of photos is up to the administration team....but I do think that some of our talented photographers have stopped submitting photos because their work no longer seems to be thought suitable for p-a-d, and that is such a shame as there was a wealth of talent there.

Well said Irene, clap clap clap.
I fully agree.

Janette...Nicely done..!!!!

Some more interesting and enlightening historical information about the buildings beyond those gates: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Haigh_Foundry_Co

And the sister foundry close by at Brock Mill: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Brock_Mill_Forge

I must agree, an awful photo and awful weather.
What railway did the bridge carry?

Arthur, it's the road bridge at the bottom of Leyland Mill Lane spanning the Douglas Valley, it's been added to over the years with new stonework and latterly brickwork to make the parapet higher, I'm sure that a vehicle or two being driven recklessly has ended up going over the edge at some time.

The 200 or more years worth of haphazard masonry and brickwork that constitute this wall defies description.
Patchwork quilt bond, if it existed, being the most accurate bond that I could suggest.
Forget Tracey Emin's stupid ' My bed ' , this wall is far more worthy of consideration for the Turner prize in my view than Emin's heap of flotsam.
Unfortunately it's in Wiggin......' samwere ap norf ' .....which would disqualify it automatically for consideration.
Presumably the slag copings were added to deter the kids from sitting on it.
Another good photo Mick, and don't allow yourself to be deflected mate......Yeah, I know, as if that were an actual possibility.

Respect. Ozy.

One other thing that I omitted to say was that the soot from the steam powered locos that passed below this arch during the industrial revolution can still be seen, almost an inch thick in places.
Depressing as this wall may appear to some, devoid of character and historical relevance it most certainly is not.

It's not so much the stone bridge,( which has character) but the horrible gates that make it look worse than what it is. I know it's not 'Marble Arch' but surely they could have come up with something better. Seems to me those gates wouldn't keep anybody out, it could be quite easy to climb over them.

Exactly Veronica, nothing wrong with the arch way etc, its the awful tat people put up these days....spoilt the old bridge completely.

o.k. Veebs , you go first , I'll stay here and keep nix.

I bet I could climb over that gate on a good day - if nobody was watching and I got a leg up!

Its industrial area, the green gate must have been to low to keep out the Wigan vandals and robbers so they made it taller.
The top is also smoothed in old thick black engine oil.

Cyril as come up with this interesting stuff about what behind those depressing gates

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=113735#113735